The government has approved an allocation of $1.1 billion (NIS 4 billion) to extend Jerusalem’s Light Rail system to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.

The funding will come from the Transportation Ministry budget.

The project will nearly double the current range of the light rail system, more than 13.6 miles (22 kilometers), which extends from the northern neighborhood of Neve Yaakov to Mt. Herzl in the capital’s center.

It is expected that the extension of the route to Jerusalem’s southwestern region will increase ridership on the light rail to approximately a quarter million passengers per day.

Earlier this year, the municipality announced plans to extend the light rail from the Kiryat Moshe station to the Har Nof neighborhood as well.

Some residents along the proposed construction route have expressed concern to Arutz Sheva about noise and access problems that come along with any construction project. But others mentioned they were worried about the electromagnetic field emitted by the power supply, “just a short distance from our living rooms and kitchens.”